


The Bad Grade

by SeverusSnapeFan



Series: Iron Dad & Spidey Son Fluff [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Gen, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27147952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeverusSnapeFan/pseuds/SeverusSnapeFan
Summary: “You’re gonna be really mad,” Peter blubbered out, trying and failing to turn his crying face away. He was being called out and there was nothing he could do about it.“Unless someone hurt you, or prevented you from the bathroom or something like that, I promise you I won’t be mad,” Tony said sincerely, hoping that would ease his child’s concerns, as his own was taking a dark turn. What had happened at school? Who did he need to kill?
Relationships: Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Iron Dad & Spidey Son Fluff [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900756
Comments: 15
Kudos: 174





	The Bad Grade

**Author's Note:**

> This sadly contains no omo, just a regular story...I know..it's weird that I do those right? This came to be because I have loads of ideas that I implemented into a Tony and Peter RP and that rp is now dead, and I don't want all the great ideas in it to die as well. So yeah, um enjoy this. 
> 
> Peter is 12 here, as in 8th grade you're either 12 or 13
> 
> Also, It's legit a fear to be afraid of what your parents will think or do to you if you get a bad grade. I grew up in a house where getting anything lower than a C was digging your own grave and sometimes that C wasn't good enough. So before you naysayers say why would he be afraid of a bad grade, remember not everybody grew up being told that it was okay to make a mistake, some of us got punished for that bad grade. Anywho, onwards to the story!

Peter was chatting with Ned in their Math class about his favorite part in the latest Star Wars movie when he glanced over to see their teaching frowning at a stack of papers. He wondered what the man was looking at but he didn’t have to wonder too long as Mr. Greene suddenly stood up and cleared his throat. The class fell silent and turned to look at him expectantly. 

  
“I have the Math tests that you took this morning, already graded, and ready to take home with you today. I’m very disappointed with a lot of your scores because I know your potential and so I know you could have done much better than you had. Everyone who scored below 70% needs to get their tests signed by their parent or guardian and returned to me on Monday,” Mr. Greene said seriously.

  
Peter swallowed thickly, glancing around to see that he wasn’t the only one who had paled. They were in the advanced pre-calculus class, which was a really big deal for them given that it was a high school course and they were 8th graders. He usually liked it because Flash wasn’t in this classroom thankfully. Not to mention that normally math came easy for Peter but this new section he was struggling and he didn’t like. He was hoping that he had done okay for the test because he didn’t want to imagine what he would do if he failed.

  
His eyes followed his teacher as the man started passing out the graded math tests, watching silently as his classmates received their tests. He could tell who got a bad grade by the dejected look on their faces and he hoped more than anything that he had passed. As Mr. Greene passed first by Ned and set down his work, he was hopeful.

  
“Good work Mr. Leeds,” Mr. Greene said quietly as he placed the test face down on the child’s desk, before making his way over to Peter’s.

  
“I expected a lot better from you Mr. Parker, but we all have bad days. Make sure you get that signed,” he said quietly as he placed the test down and moved on to some more students.

Peter’s stomach clenched at his teacher’s words because they had been ominous and now he was even more afraid to see what he had gotten. He turned to look at Ned who had turned his test over and was grinning. “What did you get?” He whispered out curiously.

  
“92%, which is awesome…I mean this was a hard test I’ll take it,” Ned said happily, he had been worried and had briefly wondered how he was supposed to tell his parents. “What did you get?” He asked curiously, hoping his friend passed as well.

  
Peter carefully lifted up the corner of his test, face falling at the red 59% on his paper, turning it so Ned could see it briefly before he slapped it back down on the table. He could feel his face crumpling, because he had never ever received an F before, and he was scared because he didn’t know how his guardians would take it. He ignored the sympathetic look Ned was now giving him, as his heart raced, wondering how he was going to get this signed. 

  
Shaking his head, he grabbed the test and folded up as small as he could before burying it at the bottom of his backpack. He wanted to forget about it, but he couldn’t. And as luck would have it, Math was his last class of today, and all too soon the bell rang. He dragged his feet as he walked out of the classroom with Ned, trying to think of a way to get Aunt May to sign the test without seeing it, only to trip over the air as he realized what day it was. 

  
It was Friday, which meant no Aunt May until Monday night, he was spending the weekend with Tony! His heart flew into overdrive, stopping at his locker and putting his head into for a moment to calm himself down. He needed to fix his face because Happy would realize that he wasn’t happy if he didn’t (no pun intended) and that would get back to Tony. 

  
That was the last thing he wanted. He couldn’t imagine having to explain to his genius father how his son had failed at the most basic thing. He had read up on Tony’s history and he knew that by the time he had been Peter’s age he was about to start College. He felt shame and he definitely didn’t want the man to know, maybe he could forge May’s signature, it shouldn’t be that hard right? 

  
Taking a deep breath, he blew it out and forced himself to relax as he had a tentative plan. Just when he thought that it was all going to be okay, he walked out of the school with Ned and froze as he caught sight of the shiny grey Audi parked innocently where Happy’s black town car normally sat.

  
He grimaced and mumbled something he hoped it resembled a farewell to his best friend before he started walking to his death...err the car. His heartbeat frantically in his chest and he had no idea what his face looked like; he only hoped he didn’t look terrified as that was what he currently felt. The walk to the car was both fast and slow, and when Peter got there he hesitated before he opened the door, not surprised to see Tony sitting in the driver’s seat.

  
“Hey kiddo, how was your day?” Tony asked curiously as he turned to look at his son with a bright smile. He noted that his child looked pale, almost as if he had seen a ghost or something equally frightening. He had been monitoring his heart rhythm courtesy of JARVIS as it had spiked too many times in the last hour which is why he had chosen to pick him up today. He was a bit worried because it was very unusual for his son.

  
“Good,” Peter croaked, before he cleared his throat, trying to get it to sound like he normally did. He put his backpack on the floor and buckled up silently, looking out the window so he wouldn’t have to look at Tony. The man had a way of getting the truth out of him and that was the last thing he wanted.

  
“Nice, I’m glad it was a good one, did anything interesting happen today?” Tony asked genuinely curious. 

  
“No, it was a normal boring day,” Peter replied in a quiet tone.

  
Tony was immediately on guard because as per the protocols that he had set up for his son he knew that the day had been anything but normal. The only question was why was Peter trying to hide it? He would get to the root of that problem later when he wasn’t about to start driving. 

  
“Alright, what did you want to get for a snack? I’ve got food in here or we can go out and get something, your choice,” Tony said brightly.

  
“The food here is fine,” Peter mumbled out, normally he would be ecstatic to go out to eat anywhere with Tony but he just felt so bad. The man was being so nice and generous and he had no idea that his son was a legit moron, and couldn’t even do proper math. 

  
“Really? Because that new burger spot opened up that we were itching to try,” Tony pointed out.

  
“Maybe another time, I’m not that hungry right now,” Peter answered truthfully, his stomach was in literal knots.

  
Tony frowned as the conversation fell silent, turning to look at the road but he was in a line, and until the car in the front of him move, he and everyone else behind him needed to wait. He didn’t like this uncomfortable silence, and he tried to think of something anything to get out of it. Wait, he knew what he could ask!

“Oh yes, I meant to ask how was your math test today?” Tony asked, feeling very proud at having remembered it without someone having to remind him.

Peter’s eyes widened as his heart went into overdrive, willing it to calm down because he knew JARVIS wouldn’t stay quiet for long. His basic instinct was to lie, which is what he did, realizing belatedly that it had been a terrible decision to do so. 

  
“Math test? I didn’t have a math test,” Peter said quickly.

  
“Yes you did, why are you lying kiddo? Did something happen in the math test?” Tony asked, getting worried all over again. Was this the root of the problem with Peter today?

  
“Nothing happened, the test was fine,” Peter whispered out almost inaudibly.

  
“I don’t believe you, and neither does JARVIS. He said your heart rate has shot through the roof yet again. What happened during the test? Who do I need to sue?” Tony asked seriously.

  
Peter’s façade started to crumble then because his dad was so caring and he didn’t deserve to have such a stupid son. He was going to be so embarrassed when Peter told him the truth and make no mistake the little boy knew he would. “Nobody did anything,” he whimpered out tearfully, trying to keep his face looking out the window. 

  
“If no one did anything, then why are you about to start crying bubba?” Tony said gently before turning in his seat and gently grabbing his son’s face so he could look at him. 

  
“I don’t know,” Peter cried out, the tears falling from his eyes as he looked back into the brown concerned eyes of his fathers.

  
“Yes you do, tell Daddy what’s wrong. What happened during the test?” Tony repeated out, wishing they weren’t in the car so he could hug his child properly without the gears and everything else in the way. 

  
“You’re gonna be really mad,” Peter blubbered out, trying and failing to turn his crying face away. He was being called out and there was nothing he could do about it. 

  
“Unless someone hurt you, or prevented you from the bathroom or something like that, I promise you I won’t be mad,” Tony said sincerely, hoping that would ease his child’s concerns, as his own was taking a dark turn. What had happened at school? Who did he need to kill?

  
Peter took a deep breath, looking down the best he could with his father’s hand on his chin, preventing him from turning away. “I got a bad grade,” the little boy confessed sadly.

  
Tony inwardly jolted because that was it? All this hysteric for this? He was glad that it was nothing serious but wondered why Peter had worked himself into such a state. He had never put much emphasis on Peter’s grades before, and he knew May didn’t either. What had changed? “Okay, what was the grade?” He asked softly.

  
“A really bad one,” Peter whimpered out, not even able to say it. 

  
“Kiddo, it happens, you can’t get good grades all the time. Why are you so stressed about it? I’m not mad, I’ve gotten a few bad grades in my time, and I turned out alright,” Tony said with a smile wanting his little boy to know it was okay.

  
“I didn’t want you to be ashamed of having a stupid kid when you’re a genius,” Peter said a little bit bravely, now that he was assured that his father wasn’t angry about the grade.

  
“I’m not upset about the grade, I’m angry because you just called yourself stupid. If you say something as hurtful as that again about yourself, you can say goodbye to your weekend,” Tony said tightly. “You are the furthest thing from stupid,” he added seriously. He didn’t like it when Peter talked badly about himself. He was everything he wished he could be, his kid was way too good for this earth. And for the child to think he was stupid, that got his blood boiling. 

Peter hunched into himself, not from fear but from the fact that he was getting scolded for calling himself a name and not the bad grade he had gotten. He wasn’t even getting grounded because of his test, what had he been so worried about?

“Now, this bad grade why did you get it?” Tony asked his son curiously after a few minutes had gone by. He was finally able to pull out from the school and headed to the new burger spot because he knew they both needed a pick me up and he also wanted to get out of the car so he could hug his kid.

  
Peter shrugged, even though he knew that wasn’t an answer. Even though his father had let go of his face to drive, he missed it, well he missed the comfort. “I don’t understand it,” he admitted out.

  
“Do you have the test with you? We can spend some time on it today and help you figure this out alright?” Tony told his son easily, as he drove the fifteen minutes to the burger joint pulling into the parking lot a moment later.

  
“It’s in my bag,” Peter mumbled out, not wanting to get it out at all. “You…you have to sign it before I can return it,” he said bravely.

  
“Okay, that’s fine, let me see it so I can sign it now, and then when we get home, we can work on it together,” Tony said easily as he unbuckled the seatbelt and turned to face his son.

  
Even though he knew that Tony wasn’t mad, he still felt some kind of way as he reached into the bottom of his backpack to pull out the folded-up test. He didn’t even unfold it, he just simply passed over to his father without a word.

  
Tony noted the folded test, unfolding it and pulling a pen from his pocket. He glanced briefly at the red number at the top of the test before he signed it and passed it back to his child. He hated that his little boy had been terrified of showing it to him. He opened the door shut it behind him before he walked to the other side of the car where Peter was just getting out as well. 

  
“In the future when you get a bad grade, don’t hide it from me. I’m never going to mad at you for something like this, I know you’re not perfect, no one is kiddo,” Tony said as he hugged his child to his chest.

  
Peter melted into the hug, nodding silently as he hugged his father as well, finally able to take a huge sigh of relief. It was going to be okay. 


End file.
